Contents

Company
information

The company, headquartered in Tokyo, was founded in March 1981,
making it one of Japan's oldest adult video firms. Among early AV
actresses who performed for h.m.p. were Keiko Nakazawa who appeared for the Samm
label with the video Pakkeeji Zenmen o Hyōji released in
1986,[2]Rena Murakami, who
debuted on the company's Miss Christine label in March 1988[3], and AV IdolYumika Hayashi
who made her debut with the Miss Christine video Shigamitsuku
18-sai: ojōsama wa shitanai in June 1989.[4]

At the beginning of 2009, h.m.p. was directed by C.E.O. Hiroyuki
Gorogawa (五郎川 弘之) and had a capital of 105 million yen (about $1
million).[5] Their
official website h.m.p.online sells a variety of goods including
adult DVDs (some on Blu-ray), downloadable video content and adult
toys. The website also contains a valuable database of over 3700
h.m.p. titles which can be searched by title, series, genre, media
and date.[6]

h.m.p.
labels

h.m.p. has produced videos under a number of labels including
the basic h.m.p. label which uses production codes beginning in
HODV or HRDV. Other labels past and present include:[7][8]

UMD
videos

In July 2005, h.m.p., along with two other Japanese AV
producers, attempted to expand their offerings into a new medium.
In the controversial venture frowned upon by Sony,[9] h.m.p.
offered adult videos for UMD media, the proprietary disc
format used in the Sony Play Station
Portable (PSP).[10] By
early 2006, according to company spokesperson Yumiko Okazaki, sales
in Japan "weren't bad" but were far less than the same titles on
DVD or VHS. She said the company would release another set in 2006.
They were also offered overseas by JList.com whose founder, Peter
Payne, estimated sales of UMD discs at about 500 a month.[11] The
provocative h.m.p. advertising campaign for the PSP discs touted
the advantages of portable porn.[12]

The discs featured such h.m.p. superstars as Risa Coda[13] and
Hikaru Koto[14] and
in addition to two hours of video, many contained adult minigames
playable on the PSP.[15] The
last of the discs, labeled with ID codes HOUM-00001 to HOUM-00013,
was released April 21, 2006.[16]

NEVA

The larger and older adult video studios in Japan, including
h.m.p., Kuki Inc. and Alice Japan, belong to
an ethics group called in English the Nihon Ethics of Video
Association (NEVA) or in Japanese 日本ビデオ倫理協会 (Nippon Bideo Rinri
Kyoukai or Japan Video Morality Association) usually abbreviated as
ビデ倫 (Biderin or Viderin).[17][18]
The C.E.O. of h.m.p., Hiroyuki Gorogawa, is one of the board
members of NEVA which was founded in 1972 and has its headquarters
in the Chuo Ward of Tokyo.[18]
NEVA is a voluntary organization to ensure adherence to Japanese
obscenity laws which prohibit any display of genitals. This is
accomplished by a mosaic pixelation applied to videos for sale in
Japan and the NEVA seal is placed on all videos produced by member
studios.[18]
In recent years, the mosaic has been digitally applied and has
become more transparent and in June 2007 some restrictions (such as
showing pubic hair) were lifted by NEVA.[19]

In response, Metropolitan Tokyo police raided the offices of
NEVA and several AV studios (including h.m.p.) and confiscated
videos on August 23, 2007 as part of an investigation of video
producers and distributors suspected of distributing obscene
material depicting genitals.[18][20] At
the beginning of March 2008, five members of NEVA, including
h.m.p.'s Gorogawa and the head of the inspection division, were
arrested for the sale and distribution of indecent material because
the digital mosaic used was too revealing.[21] In
April 2008, NEVA announced it would be forming a new organization
to provide reforms and uniform screening practices for videos.[22]